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Moonshadow Kennels Australia (Est 1995) Outstanding
Belgian Shepherds and Japanese Spitz Our History How Moonshadow Kennels come into being..... In 1981 we were living in
Adelaide and we purchased a sweet loving puppy that we named Kandy, which we
later discovered was a part-Belgian Shepherd.
At that time, there were few Belgian Shepherds in Australia, and very,
very few in South Australia. We were
delighted with our new puppy which we purchased as a companion for our other
dog "Spot", a German Shepherd cross. Our two dogs were an integral part of our
family and our son's constant companions over the ensuing years. In 1991 we lost our much-loved older dog at
the age of 15yrs, and after a period of grieving we decided to go looking for
another Belgian Shepherd puppy. In 1994 we discovered that
there was a lovely litter of Belgian Shepherd Groenendael
puppies in Bungendore, close to the ACT border, so off we went to see
them. The pups were 5 weeks old and
full of life and mischief. Amongst
them was a very confident little girl who became ours at the age of 9 weeks.
Her pedigree name is Mashiara Moonshadow
who we called "Shadow". One
day when Shadow and Lesley were walking in the park, they met a lady, Rae
Officer, with her Groenendael puppy Ringo. Rae
strongly encouraged Lesley to show Shadow (then aged 6 months) in the
Conformation "Show" ring, and Rae became a firm friend and was
instrumental in helping Lesley and Rob to understand and enjoy the fun of Dog
Showing. Kandy and Spot 1990 Kandy and Shadow
1994 BSD Club of NSW members
fundraising In 1995, we became registered
as breeders under the prefix Moonshadow Kennels,
with the Royal New South Wales Canine Council (now known as Dogs New South
Wales), the organisation that controls all aspects of pedigree dogs in the
state of New South Wales. Then in order to understand and learn more about the
genetics, health, care, breeding and nutritional needs of dogs, in 1997
Lesley undertook a 1 year full-time Diploma Course in all aspects of Canine
Care in Sydney which she passed with a High Distinction! We were active members of The Belgian
Shepherd Dog Club of NSW Inc for many years and were closely involved in
activities such as the Club Shows and fund-raising events, and held offices
including Vice President and Newsletter Editor. Over the past 15 years we have
regularly competed with our beloved belgians in the
show ring and bred several litters under both the Moonshadow
prefix, and the GraeShadow
prefix, which we co-owned with Camila Hrymek who lives near Melbourne. We have had some spectacular wins with
these dogs, winning Best in Specialty Show, Runner up Best in Specialty Show
and Multiple Class wins in Specialty Shows with our belgians. We are very proud of what we have achieved
and continue to strive to breed and show belgians
that are healthy, outgoing, confident and true to type. Our
love of dogs, where it all began..... Both Lesley and Rob Kane had
dogs as adolescents - Les had a German Shepherd named Sonny and Rob had a
Collie Rough named Duke (Rob still has the pedigree papers for his Dukie).
Duke 1955 Our first dog
- Spot as a puppy in 1977 In 1977, we decided that it was
time to get our first dog together. We started referring to this potential
puppy as "Spot", so when we went looking, it was easy to recognise
our little puppy when we first saw him. He was of mixed breeding but a lovely
dog and a great companion for our son Mark as he grew up. In 1980 we decided
to get a companion for Spot and our little Kandy Kane came to join us. Kandy
was a wonderful, affectionate dog and one year we visited the dog ring at the
Sydney Royal Show and were delighted to see a whole group of Belgian Shepherds who
looked like her. She was obviously a Belgian Shepherd Groenendael
cross. 1994
Our first Pure-bred Belgian Shepherd..... After Spot passed away, we
wanted company for Kandy, so decided to look for a full-bred Belgian
Shepherd, since our experience with Kandy was so positive. We got our lovely girl Shadow (Mashiara Moonshadow) from
Melissa Gore in Bungendore in 1994, and have never had a moments regret! Shadow won her first Challenge at the
Bulli District Kennel Club Show on 30 April, 1995. This was the start of a
successful show career for Shadow, who had attained her Australian Champion
title by the end of 1995. She went on to amass 579 Challenge points prior to
her retirement in mid-1999. Her biggest victory was winning Challenge Bitch
and Runner-up Best of Breed in the face of strong competition and with a
Belgian judge at the Sydney Royal Show in April, 1997. We were so proud of
our girl! 1995
And our first Belgian Shepherd Tervueren..... Shadow was the start of Moonshadow Kennels, named after her, and around a year
later we were lucky enough to acquire our second Belgian, an adorable little Tervueren boy named Baxter (Barakuma
Knight Errant) from Pat Marchevsky, then as now the
Secretary of the Belgian Shepherd Dog Club of NSW. Baxter quickly grew up to
become a big strong handsome boy, and also distinguished himself in the show
ring, obtaining his Australian Champion title in September 1996 and winning
328 Challenge points from February 1996 until his retirement from the showring in March 2003.
Shadow and Baxter 1995 Baxter 1996 1997
Our first litter..... In 1997 we decided to have our
first litter, and bred Shadow with Harley (Australian Champion Zellik Notorious Flyer A.D.), who was imported from the
UK and jointly owned by Camila Hrymek
of Graebelge Kennels and Helene Cremona of Lumineux Kennels. We had
five lovely puppies, two boys - Zulu and Mali, and three girls - Peppercorn,
Bumble-Bee and Pixie. Mali, Bumble Bee
and Pixie all went to loving homes while Peppy and Zulu stayed with us.
The proud parent! Shadow and her pups 1997 Shadow and Zulu 2005 Zulu went on to become an Australian Champion in his own right, and
won Best Working Dog, Runner-up Best Working Dog and Best Australian Bred
Working Dog at many shows prior to his retirement in 2007. 2002-2004
Our imported Champions..... Lesley
and Rob at the
Lesley in the ring at the French
Specialty 2002 French Specialty
2004 In 1999 we were lucky enough to
be able to attend the Specialty Show of the Northern Belgian Shepherd Dog
Club in the UK and in 2002 we took our first Belgian Shepherd oriented trip
to Europe. We attended the French Belgian Shepherd Specialty Show and traveled around France meeting a number of the most
famous French breeders. Since then we have attended the French Specialty
again in 2003, 2004 and 2008, as well as the Dutch Specialty and the British
Specialty shows. These trips led to friendships that enabled us to import our
Paco (English Champion and now Australian Grand
Champion Corsini Lysander) from Audrey Maguire and
Amanda Mclaren of Corsini
Kennels in the UK in late 2002, and Rhianne (now
Australian Champion Ebontide Parisian Affair ) from
Janice and Roger Clifford of Ebontide Kennels also
in the UK in late 2004. Paco arrives - May 2003 Rhianne
arrives - January 2005 Paco
and his sons, daughters and grand children have consistently done well in the
show ring. Because of the success of his progeny, he won "Best Sire in
Show" at five Belgian Shepherd Specialty shows from 2003 through 2008.
His daughter Zoe (Graeshadow Camomile) won Best of
Breed at the Sydney Royal Show in April, 2006, with Paco
himself winning Runner up Best of Breed, a fantastic father-daughter
win! Paco
went on to win Best of Breed himself at the 2007 Sydney Royal Show, and in
May 2008 had achieved the required 1000 Challenge Points to be awarded his
Australian Grand Champion title. Although mainly retired after that, he won 3
Best Veteran in Show titles at Belgian Specialty Shows in 2008 and 2009. Rhianne achieved her Australian Championship title in
late 2005, and won a number of awards such as Best Baby Puppy, Best Minor
Puppy and Best Junior in the Working Dog Group. 2006
Our second litter..... In 2006 we mated our Paco and our Rhianne and seven
lovely Groenendael puppies were born on Halloween -
31 October 2006. Five went to lovely homes, including one, Kyra, to our
friend Rae Officer. For some months,
we kept two puppies ourselves, the boy Magic and the girl Avalon, both of whom did well in the
show ring and were awarded their Australian Champion titles. Magic did
exceptionally well, winning two Baby Puppy in Group awards, two Minor Puppy
in Group, three Puppy in Group and Runner-up Best in Group by the age of 9
months! He also placed first in a number
of the Sweepstakes events run for 6-12 month old dogs.
Magic
at 8 months Avalon at 8
months 2008
More lovely puppies..... In 2008 we had two litters of
beautiful puppies. The first was sired
by our Paco mated to Belabelg
Angels Gift ("Bonny"), owned by Gordon and Karen Anderson, with the
result being 3 male and 6 female Tervuerens born on
20 June 2008. One of these, Dream, stayed with us at Moonshadow
and began a successful show career. At various shows as a youngster, she was
awarded Best Minor Puppy, Best Puppy
and Best Junior in the Working Dog
Group, first place in a Sweepstakes for all 6-12 months olds,
Runner up Best Dog in the Working Dog Group, and was twice awarded the Best
Junior in the Show. One of these times was at the Belgian Shepherd Dog Club
of NSW Specialty Show in August 2009. She was also picked as Puppy of the Day
at the 2009 Sydney Royal Show. She was awarded her Australian Champion title
on 6 October 2009. Her sister Raina has been shown
by Elspeth and Michael in the Newcastle, NSW area, and has also had a
successful show career, becoming an Australian Champion on 5 February, 2010
and later attaining several obedience and agility titles, including CCD, RN, ADX, JDX, SPD, GD, and SD. The second litter brought
together two stunning Groenendaels, Aust Ch Mirribandi Perfect Tzar, owned
by Kathryn Winton and Steve Torcetti, and Xanova Rose Noir (Imp UK), owned by Rae Officer. Born on
16 September 2008 were 3 male and 4 female puppies. We again kept one for the show ring, our
pretty little Dancer. Dancer has also been a successful show dog, receiving
her Australian Champion title on 18 December, 2009. On her way to her title,
she was awarded first place in a Sweepstakes for all 3-6 Month olds, Best
Puppy, Best Minor Puppy and Best Puppy in the Working Dog Group at various
shows, and Best Puppy in Show. Shown below are Dream at around
9 months (left) and Dancer at around 6 months at the Tarago Show Ground. At
this show in March 2009, Dream won first place in the 6-12 months old puppy
sweepstakes, and went on to win Best Minor Puppy in the Working Dog Group.
Then Dancer won Best Baby Puppy in the Working Dog Group, and followed it up
by winning Best Baby Puppy in the entire Show! 2009-2010 Our Sad Losses..... Although the year 2009 was
successful in many respects, it ended on a very sad note with the loss of our
beloved Baxter at age 14 on 10 December, 2009 (see Baxter's
vale.) Then a few weeks later, on 27 February 2010, we also lost Baxter’s
best mate and lifelong companion Peppy, age 12 (see Peppy's vale.) Then in a third blow, our “Perfect
Gentleman” Paco, also age 12, departed us on 5
April, 2010 (see Paco's vale.) Finally, at the end of 2010, our
beloved Shadow left us, at age 16. She was our first pure-bred Belgian
Shepherd, and we named our Moonsahdow Belgian
Shepherds Kennel after her, as her pedigree name was Aust Champion Mashiara Moonshadow. For more on our girl, see Shadow's
vale. We gratefully accept all the condolences we received from family,
friends and fellow dog enthusiasts during these sad periods. 2010-2011 Moving House and a new
adventure... Following a winter trip to
sunny Queensland in 2009, we decided to acquire a holiday home up there, and
managed to do so in February 2010. We thus spent the winter of 2010 in
Queensland and competed in some of the shows there. Every winter since then
we have spent some of the winter months at our Queensland holiday house. We later decided to sell our 130 year old
house in the Bowral, NSW area and in 2011 bought a newer, low maintenance
house nearby. All of this activity on the housing front resulted in limited
activity on the show front during 2010 and 2011, and no real time for new
litters. However, Dream’s sister Raina continued
her winning ways throughout this period, receiving her Australian Champion
title in February 2010, her CCD title in July 2010, JDX title in July 2011
and her AD title in October 2011. We
were pleased and surprised when Moonshadow Kennels
was named “ Advance Best Belgian Shepherd Tervueren
Breeder for 2010” by Dogzonline.com.au
largely on the basis of Raina’s
achievements. Thanks as always to Elspeth and Michael! Late 2011 saw us embark on a
new adventure, with the arrival of “Coco” (Daesdaemar Moon and Stars) in September. Coco, pictured
below, is a Japanese Spitz from Amanda Huggins at Daesdaemar
Kennels. So we returned to the show ring in November, 2011, with Coco
supplementing our two show Belgians - Dream and Dancer. Dancer rallied to the
cause, picking up three Best Australian Bred wins in the Working Dog Group in
a row! Coco
as a baby puppy 2012 More Changes... Early 2012 saw some pleasant
surprises as well as a very sad one. Amongst the positives were our 14 year
old Zulu winning first place in a Veteran’s over 10 years of age sweepstakes
in January, 2012, after having been out of the ring since 2007. Then Dancer
won Runner-up Best Working Dog at the Kangaroo Valley show in February. We
then spent a few weeks up in Queensland and were delighted when Dancer won
Best in Show at a Belgian Shepherd Specialty show held by the Belgian
Shepherd Dog Club of Queensland in March, 2012. April 2012 began on a happy
note, with a litter of 6 lovely Tervueren puppies
being born on 10 April to our Dream. However, very sadly only a few days
later, on 20 April, our 14.5 year old Zulu passed away (see Zulu's
Vale.). He was the last of our “old dogs” which included our foundation
bitch Shadow, our first Tervueren Baxter, Zulu’s
sister Peppy and of course our lovely imported Paco.
Thus Zulu’s going represented the end of an era for Moonshadow
and us. We did, however, continue
showing Dancer as well as Coco during 2012, while Dream was occupied with
maternal duties. Dancer did well, spending most of the year at the top of the
Dogzonline Breed Challenge listing, and notching up
over 500 total Challenge points by year’s end. We were also pleased when Coco
was awarded her Australian Champion title on 8 October, 2012. In addition, we
acquired another lovely little Japanese Spitz girl, Esilanna
Cupcake, known as “Poppy”
from Liz and Bill Houldsworth of Esilanna Kennels in late August, 2012. Poppy also began
to join us in the show ring from September, 2012. In the obedience/agility areas,
Raina again triumphed, gaining her SPD (Strategic
Pairs Dog) title in July 2012, her Agility Dog Excellent (ADX) title and her
Gambler’s Dog (GD) title in September 2012 and her Rally Novice (RN) and
Snooker Dog (SD) titles in November, 2012. Poppy
as a baby puppy 2013 Another lovely litter... Early 2013 saw us welcome
another litter, this time it was Dancer’s turn. She had 7 beautiful Groenendael puppies on 1 February, 2013, 5 boys and 2
girls. Because we were busy with this new family, we did not show until May,
2013, and then focused on Poppy, our newest. We were very pleased when she
won Best Baby Puppy in the Non-sporting Dog ring 3 times in just under 2
weeks in May, 2013. Poppy continued her winning ways and was officially
awarded her Australian Championship on 27 October, 2013 Unfortunately, our
little Coco had to be de-sexed in November, 2013. 2014 Campaigning Coco 2014 saw us back in the ring
with Coco
now competing in the Neuter category. We were extremely pleased when she won
Best Neuter in the Non-sporting group 9 times in a row, and then Best Neuter
in Show twice in a row. By mid-March, 2014 she was the leading Non-sporting
Neuter in the country and the fifth highest scoring of any breed of Neuter in
Australia. Poppy
continued to win as well, racking up a number of Best Intermediate Dog in the Non-sporting Dog group awards as the year
progressed. In addition, Dream’s son Zephyr was
making a name for himself in the obedience ring, obtaining his CCD title on
26 February, 2014. Dream’s sister Raina continued her achievements in the
obedience/agility areas, being
awarded her Strategic Pairs Dog Excellent (SPDX) title in May, 2014 and her
Jumping Dog Masters (JDM) title in November, 2014. Also in November, 2014, we were
delighted when Dream had her second litter of 3 boys and 4 girls. Finally,
again in November 2014, we were very pleased to acquire a lovely little boy
Japanese Spitz, “Teddy” (Mannerking Front Page News) from Mannerking
Kennels in Goulburn, NSW. Our sincere thanks to Debbie King of Mannerking for entrusting us with this happy, outgoing
and handsome little boy.
Coco winning Best Neuter in Show on
15/3/14 Zephyr winning highest
score in CCD in Feb 2014 2015 Three Japanese Spitz in the Show Ring This new year saw us back in
the Show Ring with all three of our Japanese Spitz – Coco, Poppy and Teddy.
Coco continued to do well in the Neuter Competition, scoring 11 Best Neuter
in Group awards in her first 12 starts, as well as a Best Neuter in Show
award. Poppy continued to be a strong competitor, while young Teddy got a
strong start, including winning two in-group level awards early in the year.
We are optimistic for all three as we move further into the year. Teddy,
our new baby puppy Japanese Spitz In addition to the vales whose
links are shown above, photos of gone but not forgotten dogs can be seen in
the "In Memory"
section of this website, while the others mentioned above can be seen in the
"Meet
Our Dogs" "Puppies"
or "Friends
Dogs" sections. Comments, questions or like more information? Please
contact us, Rob & Lesley Kane, Email: robandlesley48@ozemail.com.au Telephone
0408-202219 |
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